Built To Spill has been going about it’s career much the way it has for years, touring every year in small to mid venues, and coming out with an album here or there. The Flaming Lips have been essentially the opposite; self-promoting anyway they can after years along the fringe. Now before I go any further I should say that I do not think that The Flaming Lips newer material is really that amazing, certainly not deserving the overwhelming praise they receive just about anywhere for their last two albums. I found the Soft Bulletin a boring, sentimental mess that sounded like they were attempting to recreate the Moody Blues album Days of Future Passed, we all know “Nights in White Satin” and I don’t care to hear it remade. Yoshimi Battles Pink Robots then hit in 2002, while it struck the listener right away with its impact, it grew bland after a while and now is only just ambient music; the only reason why it was so good right away is that the lead song, “Fight Test”, is a great single. Finally I saw them live that fall at the Roseland Ballroom—witnessing the bunny suits, balloons, flashing lights, and a total affirmation of life first hand I have to say: I wanted to puke. It was a self-indulgent stage show that was just about as edgy as a PBS kids puppet show and everyone there was sucked into it like the brainwashed kiddies watching Teletubbies.

This was the band that proclaimed, “I want my own planet, the human race I can’t stand it,” back in the ‘80s when they were just making simple and pure garage rock; now they were proclaiming how beautiful life could be? Why don’t they just sing about the glory of god while they are at it? Oh you don’t want to turn off your liberal hipster fan base? My disgruntled disappointment in the Lips move from their punk/space rock of their early career aside—amazingly their new album At War With the Mystics is none of the above. They utilize all they have done in their past and present, maybe front man Wayne Coyne actually listened to the earlier albums that got re-released in Finally, the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid, because the music is the better for it. Yes you may have heard the new album is no Yoshimi—this is true, it is deeper.

Ultimately these two albums are not strange new directions for either of these bands; it is the collected creation of their specific sounds to near perfection.

Starting off with a cutesy yeah, yeah, yeah chant distorting in your ear may be over the top, indulgent and definitely disjointing for the listener, but once you stop trying to listen to Mystics then you’ll start to notice it. You will want to listen to it and try to figure out all of its nuances. “Free Radicals,” a slow beat with Coyne’s falsetto, recalls a Prince track, not only from the singing but the stuttered guitar riffs. The guitars jangle over a flute on “The Sound of Failure”, recalling a track from Arthur Lee’s band, Love.

Sounds move left to right all album long, making it great for headphones listening. This begins the next track, “Cosmic Autumn Rebellion,” where Coyne states, “soon all things will die.” Much like Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Coyne’s deepest moments are when he is most blatant and Mystics is no different than past albums, but here he preaches his confusion and frustration. The Lips can easily take you away, with Coyne’s high tenor, drifting noise, subtle drums and sometimes even Curtis Mayfield beats.

The pop song “Mr. Ambulance Driver” slowly creeps in among sirens and slow keyboards. It picks up with a beat as the singing starts and then it goes full on with a ‘70s television show guitar riff and the words, “help is on the way, but I’m not a real survivor.” Much like Radiohead’s “Knives Out” it has a subtle driving tone, ultimately fading with oohs and ahhs and more echoes.

Influences abound on both these records, especially classic rock from the 1970s. Like Neil Young and Crazy Horse Built to Spill’s You In Reverse is littered with the sound of blatant epic guitar; pleading and frank, that lend more potency to the reflective mood already inspired by Doug Martsch’s lyrics.

Always one for the rock riff pop song with a heavy edge, “Conventional Wisdom” is not ashamed to fuse the grandiose with a jam like that of Dinosaur Jr. or even the Grateful Dead. In this song, as in others, Built To Spill gives us fluid musical tangents—it’s what they do during a live show and it’s pure pleasure to hear them bring that to the studio. It’s polished and this is it so much better because the crisp clean sound of every guitar note makes each listening moment poignant.

Though while Built to Spill can deliver spiraling guitar rock, The Flaming Lips attempt the grandiose with an orchestral dirge on, “Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung.” Repeating the phrase, “all my senses,” as they push you against a wall of sound reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s earlier albums like Saucerful Full of Secrets; but for all the orchestral fanfare the song is just over four minutes.

You in Reverse is easily the stronger album, with the flawless guitars of Built To Spill it is an exhilarating rock production that teems with burgeoning want and realistic poignant viewpoints of the world—like on the first track, “Goin’ Against Your Mind,” Martsch croons, “I’ve heard what it takes to be a man and I never cared much for that,” before we are assaulted by a guitar sound that is aggressive and startling. However At War With The Mystics, while it is difficult at times and sometimes evokes the sounds of Steely Dan surprisingly enough, especially when Coyne singing at his normal tone repeatedly sounds like Donald Fagan and all the poppy moments of Mystics bring to mind “Black Friday” or “Ricki Don’t Lose That Number,” with the easy listening beats and low-key guitar; it still is littered with such details when songs stop and start with mood music, random chimes, laugh tracks, and just a wide range of sound effects.

Production value has definitely been a preoccupation of The Flaming Lips for a while, especially since their sound experimentation album, Zaireeka. This new album is the first time they have mixed that idea with their cynical viewpoint of the past. While You in Reverse gives us the feel of the Built To Spills’ live performance captured in the studio—urgent, soothing, strong, thoughtful art that rings afterward in your ears and makes you remember that you should try to do something in life but that it’s okay to take your time.